What to Give Up for Lent 2017? Consider Twitter’s Top Ideas

Once again, you can follow what Twitter users say they are giving up for Lent in real time.

But new this year is a LifeWay Research study on what Americans who observe Lent say they actually give up. It offers a chance to compare Twitter’s serious vs. sarcastic sharers.

“Perennial favorites social networking, alcohol, and chocolate lead the list,” wrote OpenBible.info’s Stephen Smith, creator of the Twitter Lent Tracker, based on the first 1,600 tweets. “My main question, given the current US political climate, is how high Donald Trump will rank?

“He’s currently vying with smoking and sugar for No. 24. Last year, as a presidential candidate, he finished at No. 82.”

LifeWay found that nearly 3 in 10 evangelical believers (28%) now observe the Lenten season before Easter, while Catholics remain most likely to do so (61%).

In its analysis of who gives up what, Facts & Trends noted:

Giving up a favorite food or beverage is more common out West (62%) than in the Northeast (42%). Young Americans—those 18 to 24—who observe Lent are more likely to choose this option (86%) than those over 65 (43%). Catholics (64%) are more likely give up a food or drink than Protestants (43%).

For comparison, here are the top 100 ideas of 2016, the top 100 ideas of 2015, and the top 100 ideas of 2014, as well as charts on trends over time.

CT will update this post as Smith collects more tweets and analyzes the data.

Here is Smith’s current total of the top 100 most-mentioned Lenten sacrifices (both serious and cynical) in 2016. (The list will eventually cover tweets from February 27 to March 4 that mention giving up something for Lent and, except as noted, excludes retweets.)